On a late May day in 1431, the French Catholic soldier Jeanne d’Arc, or Joan of Arc, was burned at the stake by the British in the town of Rouen, France.

She had been a wildly successful soldier and leader for the French in the Hundred Years’ War, even though she was only 17 when she started fighting. But in May of 1430, she was captured and turned over to the British.

She was accused of heresy and cross-dressing (for wearing military clothing), which, combined, gave the British bishop all he needed to order her death.

Of course, by then, the tables had turned and the French ended up winning the war. The French considered her a hero, an example of virtue and bravery. Nearly 500 years after her death, she was canonized as St. Joan in 1920 by Pope Benedict XV.